Category Archives: Art

Not in Ann Arbor, alas, but still urban public art by Fra.Biancoshock. It makes me happy for some reason…

But first, I’d like to ask those of you who are artists in the Ann Arbor AREA (hi Ypsi) to sign up with the Arts Alliance. They’ve been doing a great job of facilitating public art in Ann Arbor, and it’s a good organization to promote your art and find out about requests for proposals:

The Coleman Jewett memorial has been fully funded, largely through private donations. We’ll have a date for installation sometime soon, and the city is now looking into the specifics. The memorial will be two bronze Adirondack chairs installed at the Farmer’s Market in Kerrytown.

Canoe Imagine Art went to public vote, and the selections have been announced. I’m happy to be able to include some pictures this time around so you can see how great the final choices are. What’s fantastic about these is that Ann Arbor Parks & Rec has the option to keep them (except for 1) in perpetuity. These will be installed in June of 2015.This first one is the one selected by the public. I happen to know it’s also fairly complex to install, so mad props to the city for sorting out the engineering behind the scenes. This is the one I’m most excited about. Go public!Title: Turbine
Artist Team: Missouri Western State University: Heather Andrews (Student), Jake Proffit (Student), J. Neil Lawley (Faculty) and Dustin Lafromboise (Construction Professional)
Artists’ Description: The name is in reference to the movement and occasional turbulence of the river and the history of hydroelectricity generated by the river.
Location: Broadway Park

The following were selected by the jury.

Canoe Fan is the installation that the city only has for a certain period of time.

Canoe Fan in progress.

Title: Canoe Fan
Artist: Victoria Fuller
Artist’s Description: Aluminum canoes create a half circle fan form that calls to mind the sun on the horizon, a woman’s hand held fan, a Native American headdress, or the spread of peacock tail feathers.
Location: Gallup Park

Title: Canoe-vue
Artist: Jeff Zischke
Artist’s Description: Two vertical half canoe sculptures to be placed near the Huron River with a built-in seat to accommodate one or two people.
Location: Island Park

Title: Tulip
Artist: Ray Katz
Artist’s Description: Tulip will be constructed from ten canoes standing vertically meeting at one point in the center.
Location: Bandemer Park

PowerArt! public selections were made, and will start being installed in the month of May 2015 in downtown Ann Arbor. These will wrap power boxes, and the location is included. I was on the jury for this, and have some comments about the sentiment and process that went into some of them. There are potentially two more phases for this project, so please consider submitting for the next round; there was a $1500 stipend to the artists whose works were selected this time.

And still it will be wonderful was somewhat controversial, but we felt it was thought provoking and offered dynamism as you moved around the box to view it.

Title: And it will still be wonderful
Artist: Sophia Zhou
Location: Liberty & Thompson

And David Zinn wins for most completely thought-out rendering with Selfie Monster.

Title: Selfie Monster
Artist: David Zinn
Location: Liberty & First

Finally, Art in the Sky is under way, and I encourage you to submit a design for the water tower that I see every day when I go to and from work, when I run through County Farm Park… make it interesting!

Seeing the completion of projects started before the public art fund was de-funded

Advising city staff on projects that may have a public art component

Determining how the commission moves forward

A quick recap: I was appointed about a year ago, during the same city council meeting where public art was de-funded—having an Irish sense of humor has proven useful.

The one remaining big project from the old budget is the Stadium bridges project. There have been a couple of planning issues regarding lighting and foundations, but the plan is still for a late 2015 installation. If the art piece had been considered and chosen prior to construction, foundation and electrical work could have been done during construction. This is the idea behind “baked-in” funding for art.

There are three other projects the commission is involved with, and a new one for an elevated water tank on Manchester Road in Ann Arbor.

The Jewett memorial is a set of bronze adirondack chairs to be installed at the Ann Arbor Farmer’s Market commemorating Coleman Jewett, who was an admired local educator, and a fixture at the farmer’s market for years selling his chairs. This project is largely funded by private donations and grants, with commissioner Marsha Chamberlin acting as program manager. The project is nearly completely funded—”everything but the plaque”, and the city will be considering next steps soon.

Canoe Imagine Art, which is being managed by the Arts Alliance. Three pieces have already been chosen, with one more to be chosen by the public from 3 finalists this February — I’ll be sure to share a link when I have one. The plan is for a public celebration in July 2015 to coincide with Huron River Days. The project differs from its initial conception in that the installations will be in Ann Arbor parks instead of scattered around downtown, and the parks will decide where they go. The city also reserves the right to keep them up. Commissioner John Kotarski was one of the jurors, and I concur with his delight in the quality of proposal submitted by artists. Most are interactive in some way, and will make a great addition to the parks.

I’ve been selected to be a juror for another project managed by the Arts Alliance, “PowerArt!“. The first of three phases involves wrapping 8 traffic boxes around downtown Ann Arbor with canvases that display the work of local artists. The jury will select 6 submissions, and the public will select the remaining 2. Again, when I have a link, I’ll share it. The jury will take place in February, and the celebration will be in May 2015, followed by two months of community response before moving on to the next phases.

This is the first example of “baked-in” art, where the city identifies a project that may lend itself to public art prior to engaging the commission. The plan is very similar to the water tower on Plymouth road, where there will be a public request for designs, a jury will choose finalists whose submissions will be put to a public vote, with the winner being recognized. The commission had questions about the pros and cons of various materials (paint vs. vinyl), and made project suggestions that largely mirrored the previously successful project on Plymouth road. The project manager for the job will be handling the logistics behind managing design submissions, etc.